


In Memorium: Dan Conner

by ChokolatteJedi



Series: In Memorium [1]
Category: Roseanne
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Challenge Response, Character Analysis, Community: tv-universe, Gen, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-21
Updated: 2013-07-21
Packaged: 2017-12-21 02:36:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/894801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/ChokolatteJedi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A meta discussion of character death: Dan Conner</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Memorium: Dan Conner

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the TV Universe "In Memorium" challenge, where I was prompted to discuss up to five character deaths that had great impact on me.

Okay, so I'm going to talk briefly on death in TV shows. This post is going to be full of spoilers, just to warn you now.

The first death I want to talk about is Dan Connor from Roseanne. I think this one hit me hard because of the circumstances around it, but mostly because of how I felt about writing and the show. I watched this show for the first time when I was older, in reruns, an hour a night. So I got through the heart attack at the wedding, and the birth of the baby. Darlene, who I always loved, has this great moment with Roseanne, and it's all lovely. And then they're all sitting around the table, and life is good.

Now personally, I watched this show for Roseanne and Darlene. I loved the snark, I loved their relationships with their guys, and I loved the deadpanning. Great characters. So the narration slams me with the fact that she switched the boyfriends, so Darlene is actually with the moronic jerk. So I'm upset about this, and then all of a sudden, boom.

Dan's empty chair.

And then she says how she lost him before, with the heart attack. And I just started bawling. I mean, I've dealt with character death before. Hell, I kill half of the characters I write. But I think this hit me so hard because we had just seen him survive that heart attack. I mean, I really felt betrayed. I think because of the whole concept of rewriting her life. I mean, thinking about it later, I like the idea of her dealing with her pain by fixing it in her novel. That is totally the kind of thing I would do myself.

But still, in that moment, I was so angry at the writers, and Roseanne's character, for putting me through all of that for nothing. Why have him survive the cliffhanger if you're just going to handwave him dead later. Oh, I was so angry, and snuffly. And then, to make matters worse, while I was still dealing with that bundle of feels, the episode ended and for the second half of the hour they started the first episode of the first season again. So suddenly they were all there and young and happy (and Becky v.1) and I'm going no! This is all a lie! He's dead!

So yeah, I have issues with Dan's death, because it felt like a betrayal, not by a character, which is understandable, but by the writers. Like when Fox canceled Firefly. It was that kind of betrayal. And that is why Dan Conner is the first death on my list.


End file.
